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Wednesday, December 08, 2010

How to Cook Dried Beans in a Crockpot Slow Cooker

Dried beans are one of those magical foods that have everything going for them. Beans are inexpensive, and they're a good source for many vitamins and minerals, plus they're also high in fiber, high in protein, and naturally low in fat, sugar, and sodium. Manytypesofdriedbeans are listed among The World's Healthiest Foods, and beans are also listed as one of the Superfoods that we should all be eating often. Not only are beans nutritious, they're loaded with healthy slow-burning complex carbohydrates, and are low on the glycemic index, making them a good food choice for anyone who's concerned about blood sugar, whether for weight-loss or health reasons.

Learning to cook dried beans in a crockpot slow-cooker is one of those wonderful ideas I discovered through food blogging. After I tried cooking beans this way, I did this experiment to see how soaking the beans would affect the cooking time. I cooked my beans on high, but if you're not going to be home you can always cook them for a longer time on low. The cooking time of dried beans will vary greatly depending on how fresh the beans are, so I can't give you the exact cooking time, but here's a report on the results I got. (See after my recipe for ways other food bloggers use their slow cookers to cook dried beans.)

I started with 2 cups of dried pinto beans, using beans from the same package for both crockpots.

I soaked the beans in the green crockpot overnight (about 10 hours.)

Beans in the brown crockpot were not pre-soaked.

Beans in both crockpots were covered with enough water to cover by about 2 inches. I didn't add salt to the beans. (For the pre-soaked beans, drain out the original soaking water and use fresh water to cook the beans.)

I turned both crockpots to the HIGH setting, put the lids on, and started a stop-watch to time each crockpot.

Pre-soaked beans in the green crockpot were tender and full cooked after 3-4 hours on high.

Unsoaked beans in the brown crockpot were tender and fully cooked after 5-6 hours. Honestly, I was quite surprised that pre-soaking didn't make more of a difference in the cooking time. I couldn't really tell much difference in the flavor or texture of the soaked vs. unsoaked beans. Both methods produced about 6 cups of cooked beans from 2 cups of dried beans. I froze my beans in 2 cup containers to use in recipes.

How to Cook Dried Beans in a Crockpot Slow Cooker

Use a slow cooker that's at least 3 1/2 quart size to cook 2 cups of dried beans. You can increase the amount of beans for a larger size cooker.

Caution about red kidney beans:
Red kidney beans contain a natural toxin which may not be destroyed if your slow cooker doesn't reach a high enough temperature. To be safe, red kidney beans should be pre-soaked, drained, and then boiled in fresh water for 10 minutes before cooking in the slow cooker. Read more here and here about potential toxins from red kidney beans. Thanks to Stephanie from A Year of Slow Cooking for this tip.)

Presoaked Beans:

Pick over the dry beans and discard any broken or shriveled looking ones. Put 2 cups dried beans into the slow cooker crock and soak overnight in cold water, enough to cover by several inches. The next day, drain the beans and discard the cooking water. Put soaked beans back into the slow cooker and add enough water to cover beans by 2 inches. Turn cooker to HIGH and cook beans until they're tender and cooked through, about 3-4 hours for soaked beans. (You can also cook the soaked beans on low, which would take about twice as long.) Drain beans. (You can save the cooking water if desired, but I usually don't because this liquid will have the undigestible carbs that make beans cause gas.) Whether pre-soaked or unsoaked, 2 cups of dried beans will make about 6 cups of cooked beans. Beans can be frozen in a plastic container with a tight-fitting lid for several months until you're ready to use them.

Unsoaked Beans:

Pick over the dry beans and discard any broken or shriveled looking ones. Put beans into the slow cooker and add enough water to cover beans by 2 inches. Turn cooker to HIGH and cook beans until they're tender and cooked through, about 5-6 hours for unsoaked beans. (You can also cook the unsoaked beans on low, which would take about twice as long.) Drain beans. (You can save the cooking water if desired, but I usually don't because this liquid will have the undigestible carbs that make beans cause gas.) Whether pre-soaked or unsoaked, 2 cups of dried beans will make about 6 cups of cooked beans. Beans can be frozen in a plastic container with a tight-fitting lid for several months until you're ready to use them.

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78 comments:

Awesome! I was about to make a very similar post last week when I got lazy and decided to buy canned beans for my recipe instead :P This is still on my list for December, though. Cooking and freezing beans is so easy and saves SO MUCH money! Thanks for experimenting and reporting about the soaked vs. presoaked!

Anonymous, I had heard that before as well, but I'm not sure if it's true. Seems like the undigestible carbs would also get released into the cooking water when you cook the unsoaked beans, and as long as you discard that water, I think there wouldn't be a significant difference.

If you make a recipe where you use unsoaked beans and cook them in the liquid that stays with the recipe (like soup or chile) then I think there might be more of a problem with gas.

This is very helpful, Kalyn. I've always heard about using the crockpot for cooking beans, but it was hard to find reliable directions. Interesting that there was no real difference in the soaking. In some cases I have resorted to using the pressure cooker, which is pretty effective and doesn't require pre-soaking. Although, you have to watch the pressure cooker, as the beans can get soft fast. I tend to under cook them in the pressure cooker, because I like my beans a little firmer anyway.

I'm still a fan of using a sturdy pressure cooker to cook beans in a jiff. I did up a good two pounds of dried, non soaked pintos in 45 minutes on the stove, plus 15 minutes to return to normal pressure. I would offer this as a quicker alternative -- plus, the seasoning you add really permeate the final product. I especially like dried onions, garlic and a chipotle pepper in 1 TBSP of adobo sauce since most of what we use the beans for are Mexican inspired dishes.

TW and Liz, I do have some recipes on the blog for beans cooked in the pressure cooker but I think there are more people who have crockpots than there are who have pressure cookers, so I thought this might be helpful to those people. And TW, you're right that the timing is a lot more touchy with the pressure cooker, but Liz is also right that the pressure cooker is quicker! Both methods are good.

I prefer to cook beans in a slow cooker because I can sample them easily near the end of their cooking time.So easy too.

I still prefer soaking over not soaking because the beans tend to be a lot less gassy. Just make sure you give them a good rinse.

One of my favorite things to do is assemble some type of bean soup ingredients in the slow cooker either before I go to work or before I go to bed. I set it on lo and when I wake up/return home, the soup is done. Same goes for other bean recipes. In this household we do love our beans.

Crockpots are such a convenient way to cook beans during this holiday season.

I have also read that soaking the beans ahead of time and disposing of the soaking water reduces the gas factor.

I like to cook my beans with onion, garlic, carrot, celery, kombu (for its nutrients), bay leaf, and sometimes thyme, oregano or rosemary (great with cannellini beans). I freeze any extras and throw them into soups or make hummus. I love homemade beans because you can control the salt content and flavor them however you like.

Kath, that should work, but the age of your beans is the main factor in determining whether they're done. I think if you have beans that are relatively fresh and you soak them, they should be done when you get home from work. (Fresh dried beans sounds like an oxymoron, but sometimes beans sit on the shelf for years, and those are the ones that don't get soft very easily when they're cooked.

While soaking may not seem to be necessary in a crock pot, dried beans should be pre soaked. It breaks down saprophytic acid, which inhibits our digestive tract from fully absorbing nutrients( protein for one). Simply place your beans in the crockpot with water the night before. In the morning drain the beans and then refresh the water and cook. It's something that can prevent major health issues i the long run

First, THANK YOU for this blog; I've been lurking for months and have got untold tips and ideas from you. Love it!

I went through a phase where I always cooked my beans with a slow cooker; pre-soaked with some seasonings - veg. oil, onion, green pepper, spices + tomatoes. In intervening years I cooked them stovetop with the same. When I tried to go back to slow cooker, the resulting liquid was flavorful, but thin and rather soupy - family much preferred the stovetop version. Have you or anyone else noticed this, and any suggestions? I often freeze them after cooking, but never thought about freezing them pre-seasoning for last minute versatility. Definitely something to think about.

"Kath said...So for all-day cooking, it sounds like you could cook soaked beans on Low. Does that seem right? Years ago I tried unsoaked beans on Low and they weren't done when I got home from work.December 9, 2010 6:23 AM"

@Kath- Cooking time varies not only by the "age" of the beans but other factors, the type and size of the beans as well. An adzuki bean cooks more quickly than a pinto, navy or cannelini bean. A kidney bean takes a bit longer yet. Garbazo beans take a much longer time to cook than most other beans.

Temperature settings on slow cookers vary as well. My old ones cook very, very slowly. My newer ones set to hi cook at higher temps and things get done far more quickly. There are guidlines to be found around the internet, but they are just guidlines.

Experimentation and experience help. Still, each bean cooks in it's own time, regardless of guidelines. *S* I hope that helps more than it confuses you.

CJ, thanks for the tips. I guess I am assuming that people know that different beans have slightly different cooking times, and that slow cookers vary in their temperatures, but I probably shouldn't assume that. Still, whenever I've had problems with beans not getting cooked enough like Kath was asking about, it's always been due to the beans being old.

Kalyn- Some of our knowledge comes with experience, so we do assume others "just know" these things. When I read Kath's comment, I realized that many people take these types of recipes exactly as written. We both know that with beans and slow cookers, that's not always the case. I agree that if those beans were still not done, they were probably really old. That's been my experience too. Thanks for allowing my two cents.

I cook my beans in the crock pot without presoaking and they're always done by 4 hours. Any longer and they're overcooked.

I also use the cooking liquid -- and I have very little problems with gas UNLESS I've not eaten beans for a long time (I generally have some daily). It's the introduction of that particular form of starch to the system that initially causes gas. If you eat beans consistently, in a short period of time there will be far fewer issues with gas because the microbes in your gut become accustomed to it.

My understanding is that during presoaking the beans start to germinate which changes the carbohydrate and makes them less prone to cause gas. It doesn't matter whether or not you use the soaking/cooking liquid or not.

Sally, your beans are probably always fresh if you eat beans daily, but even with a fresh bag from the store, my unsoaked ones were definitely not done in 4 hours. Thanks for the tips about the cooking liquid.

Tiffany, I highly recommend crockpots; one of the handiest of all cooking gadgets in my opinion. They usually go on sale during the holidays.

Being of Mexican descent I know mucho about beans. I used to always burn them when I cooked them on the stove top. Slow cookers prevent burning. Soaking overnight removes the gas building properties of pinto beans.Gloria in Phx

I cook dried beans in the crockpot first I sort beans place in pan cover with water, then bring them to a boil, turn of the heat and cover pan for 30 minutes. This is a quick presoak, rinse beans put in crock pot cover with water, cook until tender, add seasoning, I use a dried ham seasoning to taste along with salt. If you want the juice to be thicker, mash some of the beans with the back of a spoon and let cook 30 minutes or so and it will thicken up. Great Northen or Navy beans tend to have a differnt taste when warmed up, if you will remove beans (you aren't serving this meal) after tender but befor being seasoned put in container in fridge. You can cook later in the week just by seasoning and they will taste fresh cooked.

I want a crock pot recipe because I do not have TIME to soak the beans. I went searching for the answer to two simple questions - and I have yet to find the answer. How much beans? In the case you said two cups.How much water? No one answers this. I want to dump the beans and the water in the crock pot and go to work. But I never get the right amount of water.

I am cooking 15 bean soup so I have a few dilemmas. First, they certainly contain red beans. I do not have time to pre-soak. Should I boil for 10 minutes and then start the crock pot process? Second, because there are 15 different beans, any suggestions on time to doneness considering other comments I have read about different cooking times for different beans. Third, they have a ham "flavoring" packet. Has anyone used this and do you recommend it? I sometimes find that "flavoring" packets can mean "yucky" imitation taste.

I haven't cooked those kind of dried bean packets in the CrockPot so I can't really give advice. I would probably boil them, but check the package and see what the instructions say. Sometimes the ham flavoring packets are okay, but hard to say with this one.

Oops!! I put 2 cups of black beans and 1 cup of kidney beans in my crock pot with water, salt and broth and THEN was reading about the toxins. They are on high for 8 hours. When they are done can I then boil them or should I just pitch them and start over?

Kalyn, my son (an accomplished cook as well as med school professor) made up a slow cooker black bean recipe that is ridiculously good and easy. Chop up one onion and a couple of cloves of garlic, add 1/2 pound of soaked black beans and a large (28 oz?) can of crushed tomatoes, rather than water.... ends up sweet and delicious. Can always add cumin, etc, but really good even without seasoning.

Hi! I found your blog because I got one of those dried bean soup mixes by Bob's red mill - the 13 Bean one. I soaked the beans like the bag said, but I wanted to use my crock pot to cook them. The bag did not have any crockpot tips on the bag and I've never cooked beans from a dry state before so didn't know about all these tips. So it's been like 12 hours and the beans are not edible yet. Also this mix has kidney beans in it and I am reading here that they have to be boiled rapidly to get rid of the toxin that I didn't know about. I am also reading that the liquid from cooking the beans should be discarded because it will cause gas and I don't want that! Another thing I am seeing here is that the beans need to be sorted to find the undesirable beans. I am beginning to think that I just need to throw out everything in the crockpot and start over because this first batch is not going to be that great. So can you give me the top bean cooking rules all in one place because I really don't know what I am doing and this is all very discouraging. Please help! Thanks.

Christine, I haven't tried cooking a mixture of beans in the crockpot so I can't really say how it would work. I think the main reason beans take too long to get done is when they are old; cooking times can vary greatly even when you cook them on the stove.

If you're not experienced cooking beans I'd probably start with one type and follow the instructions in this recipe. I have kept the liquid in or not, and I don't think it makes a huge difference (nearly all beans will cause gas if your body is not used to eating them.)

Hi Kalyn, thanks for the tips. I left the beans to cook overnight and they are finally done as of this morning. The ham hock was not falling off the bone last night either so I guess this is just one of those 24 hour recipes. The bean mix has a sell by date of jan 2014. That seems pretty fresh to me but I don't know how long dried beans should be kept before being discarded. Do you? Also, do I need to worry about the fact that there are some kidney beans in this mix since I didn't boil the beans first?

Is it possible, after soaking the beans, to cook them together with your soup ingredients in the slow cooker? Wondering if I can put my ingredients for slow cooker white chili in along with the soaked beans and leave on low all day. Thanks!

Annie, there are some recipes that do that, but it would depend on the ingredients. Certain ingredients like tomatoes make the beans take much longer to get soft, but they would still probably be ok if cooked all day.

1. Pick thru and disguard halves or wrinkled beans and wash with cold water.2. Put beans in 6 qt. Crockpot and cover beans completely with waterand soak overnight.3. Next morning, pour water off of the beans.4. Put beans in the crockpot. Cover completely with chicken broth. (Add ham if you like it in your beans). Put lid on crockpot.5. Cook beans on high for 4-6 hours. Add salt and pepper and add more chicken broth if needed, stir and put the lid back. 6. Make some cornbread if you like it with your beans..7. Serve and enjoy. These freeze very well so rat now and enjoy more later.

Thank you so much for this post! Getting ready to try beans in the crock pot for the first time, usually I use my pressure cooker - dry to done in 40 mins!, and I was discouraged with everything online saying I needed to soak the beans overnight AND THEN let them cook eight hours! Thank you for taking the time to figure out that's not necessary.

Excuse me for commenting so late. I came here via your Friday Favourites post of April 26, 2013

I didn't know that about red kidney beans! Thanks for the warning.

Happily, we must have blundered onto cooking our beans at a high enough temperature - we hardly ever use canned beans. (They're so disappointing - and expensive - in comparison to dried beans cooked by us.) But then, we don't have a slow cooker either and cook pre-soaked beans in fresh water a pot on the back burner.

According to the googling I have done - kidney beans should never be slow cooked without the 10 min pre boil to destroy the phytohaemagglutinin toxin. An extended time at 75 to 80 deg cent. actually increases the amount of it. Ingesting 4-5 beans is enough to cause issues - nasty intestinal cramps, vomiting, diarrhea and all that. Apparently all beans contain this somewhat but red and kidney beans have the most.

Thanks for this blog. I am making an Italian bean soup from my new "the new slow cooker". It has been cooking for 6 hours and the beans are still firm. Now I know that the age of the beans will affect cooking time. Thanks for all the info.

I am about to embark on cooking beans [n a crackpot and so happy for all the good experiences shared here. Here is a tried and proved solution frpm an old cookbook for avoiding the "gas" problem which was a difficulty for some even with presoaking. THROW IN A SMALL POTATO AND DISCARD WHEN THE BEANS ARE COOKED. No mote problem. Anna

I have always loved dried beans---nothing better on a chilly night! And since I discovered cooking them in the crockpot, it's easier than ever! No more scorched or burned beans because I forgot to check the simmering pot on the stove! And I can have beans for supper even if I have to be out all day :) One thing I do that adds flavor is add some chicken or beef broth (or bouillon granules) to the cooking water...gives them a great flavor with no added fat (if you're watching sodium, use low sodium broth). Beans forever!

Hello , I believe that the more bean product you digest the more your gastrointestinal system gets used to the product, therefore alleviating the flatulence associated with bean Products , I may however be full of it comments are welcome , Neil b

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